Teachers, cops, mothers, wives, everyone has their breaking point; that moment where it could go either way. From the prostitute with no way out, to the bitter author, and a cop who just wants his leave, the characters in this collection will baffle and bewilder you at every turn.

Book Review:

Taking a central theme of "is there really such a thing as an innocent person?" and asking a combination of well known and emerging Crime Fiction Writers from Australia to address the question, has culminated in the creation of CRIME SCENES - a short story collection which works on a number of levels.

Short story collections like this provide a reader with glimpses into an author's style and voice, sometimes presenting something very different from known series books or previous works. In the case of previously known authors, this can confirm a liking for their work, or when the author is established but new to any reader, the potential of a whole new body of work to explore is opened. When you combine that with new or emerging authors, then you add anticipation of bigger things to come, or at the very least a bit of a quest for other short story works and collections.

On the central question, the range of treatments across the stories is broad. From an exploration of innocence itself, right through to whether or not we all, ultimately, get what we deserve is explored from a number of different viewpoints, in a range of different cultural and societal settings. From unexpected plot twists, to character variances, each of these stories takes the central question and approaches it in a manner that's sometimes serious, sometimes quirky, but most of all thought-provoking. Of marked interest is the way the voices and style of a number of the more established authors varies from their previous writing - particularly when they are known for a specific series.

It's also a collection that combines dark and light, serious and funny, across and within individual stories. There's an art to writing short stories which seems to be often under-estimated, but it's illustrated beautifully in CRIME SCENES. There's also an art to selecting and combining stories - much in the same way as you'd imagine the selection and order of tracks on an album might work. There is a distinct storytelling arc in this collection which serves the question posed beautifully, and there is sufficient variety in the interpretations to create instant favourites for a wide range of crime fiction readers. (Out in March 2016 - honestly worth queuing for - or at least pre-ordering from the link above!)

I did jump this up the queue. A lot. I just love short story collections, and there are some wonderful writers in this.

From the Blurb:

Is there really such a thing as an innocent person?

Teachers, cops, mothers, wives, everyone has their breaking point; that moment where it could go either way. From the prostitute with no way out, to the bitter author, and a cop who just wants his leave, the characters in this collection will baffle and bewilder you at every turn.

Teachers, cops, mothers, wives, everyone has their breaking point; that moment where it could go either way. From the prostitute with no way out, to the bitter author, and a cop who just wants his leave, the characters in this collection will baffle and bewilder you at every turn.

Because it's been such a stellar year for Crime Fiction - a Most Memorable of the Year List before Christmas seems like a plan in case anybody is thinking about books to spoil themselves / friends / family with. Of course the year isn't over yet and I fully expect a few more "memorables" between now and the end of December, if the previous 11 months have been any indication.

On the inside, Detective Nhu 'Ned' Kelly is a mess. Stitched up after being shot, her brain's taking even longer to heal than her body. On the outside, though, she's perfect, at least as far as the top brass are concerned. Cabramatta is riding high on the new 'Asian crime wave', a nightmare of heroin, home invasions, and hits of all kinds, and the cops need a way into the world of teenaged dealers and assassins.

Book Review:

When THE OLD SCHOOL was released all the way back in 2010, I noted "As I was reading this book I couldn't help but create a checklist of the things that make up seriously good crime fiction for me, and apply it as I went." Every box ticked needless to say, which means that the follow up has been much anticipated. It doesn't disappoint in any single way.

As with the first book we've got a very good plot, with Kelly returned from sick leave, and on light duties. Still in physical rehab her mental recovery also gets some attention, as she struggles to cope with the PTSD symptoms which overwhelm her life and her relationships. Whilst she's battling those demons, and stuck, supposedly, on office duties, her ethnicity means she's pulled, however reluctantly, into a number of investigations that intertwine into drugs, home invasions, violence and murder.

Kelly's own personal experience is visceral, raw, clear as a bell. An expose on what happens when a cop's life is endangered, threatened, turned upside down and what they have to do to get back on the job. There's some beautiful passages woven into the narrative that talk about the idea of dealing with flight or fight, and how "the job" means that bad must be confronted, must be dealt with.

"She wanted to run away. Every muscle, every nerve ending, urged her to. Instead she turned, sagging under the load she carried. This was why cops were cops. Instead of taking flight, they turned towards the fear."

"They'd had no past, no future. Just that moment, survival. 'We talked about the fight-or-flight response,'... Cynthia reckons we're stuck there, in that moment. We survived. It finished. But it's like our flight-or-fight switch is broken. We can't turn if off.'"

There is, however, absolutely no sense whatsoever of pity. Kelly's struggling. Angry, scared, confused. Regretful definitely, but pity is never to be seen. There's even distinct glimpses of hope. The tentative sense of attraction to another human being, albeit one who has seen his own share of pointless violence and despair. There's even some sense of forgiveness or at least acceptance of the part that other colleagues played in her injury, her past, present and future. Along the way there's other cops in trouble as well - this is not a one person character study. It's about the difficulties of the job as a whole.

It's also about the problems in immigrant communities. People who come from the worst possible circumstances, seeking hope and normality. How that pans out in subsequent generations, how the idea of always being an outsider, even when you're born here can have an impact. If nothing else BEAMS FALLING reminded this reader, yet again, that life is a tricky business and it doesn't matter where you come from or how you get here, it's what happens to you here and what you do about that, that matters.

Newton writes with an honesty and clarity that's both confronting and soothing. These characters suffer, they suffer a lot, and the scenario's they deal with are mucky and base and nasty and the worst of the worst. Some of them don't make it, but the ones who do survive, are battered and bruised but not always lessened by their experiences. There are points when you wonder how close to the truth BEAMS FALLING comes, and why on earth you'd get out of bed every morning and attempt to deal with it.

The first book in this series promised much, but BEAMS FALLING delivers so so much more.

The much anticipated and long awaited follow up to The Old School, due to be released at the end of February - but I have zero impulse control sometimes. The initial book in this series was extremely promising, and having now got stuck into this one, it's boding very very well.

On the inside, Detective Nhu 'Ned' Kelly is a mess. Stitched up after being shot, her brain's taking even longer to heal than her body. On the outside, though, she's perfect, at least as far as the top brass are concerned. Cabramatta is riding high on the new 'Asian crime wave', a nightmare of heroin, home invasions, and hits of all kinds, and the cops need a way into the world of teenaged dealers and assassins.

Faber Academy are holding a one day interactive workshop on crime writing at the Allen & Unwin Sydney office on Saturday 10 November.

TROUBLESHOOTING CRIME is lead by crime novelist PM Newton whose book The Old School was described as "a gripping crime novel that sweeps up the reader in its enthralling and multi-layered plot, powerful characters and spot-on descriptions of Sydney.' (Canberra Times). Former detective and Assistant Commissioner in the NSW Police Force, Clive Small, will also be a guest at the workshop.